The Greek Sense of Theatre : Tragedy and Comedy Reviewed

In this updated and extended edition of The Greek Sense of Theatre, scholar and practitioner J.Michael Walton revises and expands his visual approach to the theatre of classical Athens. From the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides to the old and new comedies of Aristophanes and Menander, he argues that while Greek drama is seen now as a performance-based rather than a strictly literary medium, more attention should still be paid to the nature of stage image and masked acting as part of this conception. In The Greek Sense of Theatre, J. Michael Walton proposes that we consider Greek tragedy of the fifth century BC as performance-based, with a visual emphasis overlooked in much classical scholarship. Greek plays have survived as written texts, virtually without stage direction, and because the conditions of the first performance were never recorded, it tends to be assumed that language was the most important feature of the Greek drama. Professor Walton seeks to disprove this idea, expanding this new edition to include the comedies of Aristophenes and Menander as well as the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Dedication 6 Table of Contents 8 List of figures 9 Proagôn 10 Prologue 15 Part I: The Athenians and their theatre 20 1. The critic 22 2. The playgoers 37 3. The stage 45 4. The performers 59 Part II: The playmakers: Tragedy 76 5. Aeschylus 78 6. Sophocles 96 7. Euripides: the tragedies 114 8. Euripides: the comedies 133 Part III: The playmakers: Comedy 150 9. Old Comedy: Aristophanes 152 10. New Comedy: Menander 167 Epilogue 175 Select bibliography 178 Index 181